Sciver-Brunt the hero as all-round Mumbai Indians trump UP Warriorz to move to No. 2

Mumbai Indians went second on the WPL points table as they thumped UP Warriorz by 42 runs in their return fixture on Thursday. They posted 160 for 6 on the back of handy knocks from Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr and Harmanpreet Kaur, who then marshalled her troops well to shut out Warriorz with Saika Ishaque and Sciver-Brunt playing leading roles.

Mumbai Indians struck three times in the first 25 balls of the Warriorz chase, and they never quite recovered. Deepti Sharma, batting at No. 5, finished unbeaten on 53 off 36 balls, but the task was too much for her after the top order had faltered, Alyssa Healy, Kiran Navgire and Chamari Athapaththu aggregating 13 runs between them.

Only net run rate now separates Mumbai from Delhi Capitals, the table-toppers at this stage, but Capitals have a game in hand.

Athapaththu had Mumbai questioning their decision to bat first. She struck twice in her first two overs to dismiss the openers, Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia. That was followed by the first key partnership for Mumbai when Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet got together. Sciver-Brunt used the depth of the crease against the spin of Athapaththu, Grace Harris and Rajeshwari Gayakwad to help the side end the powerplay on 37 for 2.

Even after the field spread, she managed to find boundaries with regularity even as Harmanpreet was struggling for some fluency. Harmanpreet broke the shackles only when Saima Thakor, Warriorz's only fast bowler, came into the attack. Harmanpreet reached out to a wide delivery from her to crack the ball through point before sweeping a full toss off Sophie Ecclestone through backward square leg.

Together Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet added 59 off 46 for the third wicket. Importantly, they hit a four on the first or second ball in five of the seven full overs they faced.

Sciver-Brunt was done in by an arm ball from Gayakwad that skidded through, while Harmanpreet missed her heave across the line against Thakor. In a matter of 27 balls, Mumbai lost three wickets heading into the death overs. In Kerr and S Sajana, though, they had the batters to finish the innings.

Kerr has been in solid touch with the bat and is Mumbai's leading run-getter this season. She manoeuvred the ball well to pick up boundaries - going deep in her crease to cut length balls, moving across to access the area behind square leg - and kept Mumbai ticking along. But she should have been caught at cover when she was on 34 off 19, but Ecclestone couldn't hang on.

Sajana, who began her WPL career with a first-ball six in the opening game, slogged one through deep-backward square leg for four before a misfield at long-on gave her another boundary. She hit back-to-back fours off Ecclestone in the last over too, as Mumbai scored 38 off the last four overs, their partnership worth 43 off just 26.

What looked like a fighting total proved to be a winning one. Harmanpreet dangled the carrot to Kiran Navgire by having left-arm spinner Ishaque partner Shabnim Ismail with the new ball. Navgire hit the second ball from the spinner over deep midwicket for a six but ended up yorking herself in the same over. Matthews then got one to stop on Athapaththu, who miscued to cover.

Which is when Ismail, who bowled the fastest recorded ball in women's cricket in the previous outing, delivered perhaps the ball of the tournament. It nipped back sharply from good length at 124kph to cut Healy in half and hit the stumps. Harmanpreet operated with Ismail and Matthews for six straight overs, in which Warriorz could manage only 18 for 2.

Harris, who was off the mark on her 15th ball with a six, then fell to Ishaque in the tenth over. In a sequence similar to Navgire's, Harris hit Ishaque for a six over long-on before being bowled on the next ball. Harris and Deepti consumed 31 balls during their partnership, in which they added only 26. Warriorz's highest partnership was for the eighth wicket, when Deepti and Uma Chetry added 37 off 26 balls.

Ishaque picked up three wickets on the night after starting WPL 2024 with three wicketless outings.